Discover Tismana: Monastic Culture, Crafts and Nature

Culture

Tismana Monastery is considered the oldest monastery in Romania. Construction had already begun two centuries before the arrival of Saint Nicodemus.

The Tismana Monastery Museum contains old objects from the church and old paintings. The museum collection of Tismana Monastery is associated with DN 67D and the DJ Târgu-Jiu–Baia de Aramă road at kilometre 35.

The Muzeul Costumului Popular Gorjenesc Tismana is located in the “George Coșbuc” Tismana Cultural Centre. It contains unique pieces as well as folk costumes from the 19th century.

The cultural heritage therefore ranges from religious objects and paintings to historical costumes and handmade household items. Different forms of local cultural heritage can be found side by side in the Cultural Centre and the monastery museum.

Festivals and Crafts

Every year on 25 March, Tismana hosts the fair of the Annunciation of the Lord. Pots and small earthenware vessels, garden seeds, as well as wicker baskets and wicker chairs are sold there.

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary fair takes place every year on 15 August; on the feast day, the performances are moved to Poiana Sântămăriei near Şarşori Forest.

In the village of Pocruia, experienced craftspeople make traditional wooden vessels and barrels, butter churns, grain containers and small handcrafted casks. Arta Casnică Tismana offers Tismana carpets, rugs, embroidered textiles, shirts, veils, aprons, belts and traditional footwear.

The markets and workshops thus showcase different aspects of local craftsmanship: ceramics, seeds, woven goods, wooden vessels, textiles and clothing each form part of distinct offerings. The two annual feast days provide fixed dates in the yearly calendar.

Nature and Trails

Gura-Plaiului Cave lies north of the village of Topeşti at an altitude of 650 metres and was formed by water in Jurassic–Cretaceous limestone.

It is 150 metres long and begins with a small shaft that is seven metres deep. This is followed by a small chamber and a large chamber that is 70 metres long and four metres high. The large chamber features abundant stalactite and stalagmite formations.

The interior of Gura-Plaiului Cave therefore extends from the small entrance shaft through the first chamber to the considerably larger chamber with its dripstone formations. The stated dimensions describe this sequence as well as the cave’s geological formation in the limestone.

The Cioclovina Nature Reserve is a twelve-hectare botanical protected area of national interest and belongs to IUCN Category IV. It lies within the administrative territory of the town of Tismana.

The protected area includes rocky meadows where rare whitebeams grow. The Peştişani–Gureni–Cheile Bistriţei–Lacul Vâja–Vârful Oslea–Schiturile Cioclovina–Valea Tismana–Tismana Monastery mountain trail is marked with a red triangle.

Underground limestone formations, rocky meadows and rare whitebeams therefore coexist in the same natural area. Along its designated route, the red-marked trail passes through several named landscape and monastery sites.

History

The church of Schitul Cioclovina de Sus dates from the 18th century and is seven metres long and three metres wide.

It was built from stone, rock fragments and bricks; in 1841, Archimandrite Spiridon renovated it.

Other Places

Other places you can discover on this page include Țicleni, Baia De Fier, Muşeteşti, Aninoasa, Ţânţăreni, Rânca, Turcineşti and Novaci.

For the higher-level travel overview: Gorj.